These Runaways Will Run The Night
by Princess Jaquline Chess
Summary: Varian sits in a cold lonely dungeon, but one girl starts to turn his life around. A series of four one-shots that shows two lost kids learning that growing up means asking for forgiveness and learning when you're wrong.
1. Varian and Juliet

**One-Shot Summary: _For six months, Varian has sat alone in the dungeon. But one strange girl is thrown in their with him, and things start to turn around._**

* * *

 **Varian and Juliet**

Varian curled over on his cot and placed the threadbare pillow he had been allotted over his head in a vain attempt to plot out the noise. The guards at the end of the hall were routinely talking about something, anything, and everything, which irritated the young alchemist to no end. He wasn't sure how much longer he could take the two of them going on and on about which candy at Monty's shop was the best.

He growled under his breath and bit his tongue to keep quiet. He knew better than to say anything, that would only irritate them and make them talk louder. He knew because he tried. Varian was sure that someone (Eugene most likely) had sure to place these two in front of his cell for that express purpose.

Six months of this and he hadn't yet been able to get one moment of decent rest. Dear God, it made him also sorry he gone after the royal family in the first place. Only almost, because he knew that Arianna and Fredrick and Cassandra and Eugene and Rapunzel and every person in this stinking kingdom deserved what he had done. Deserved more. Because while they were punishing him for his very justified crimes, they still ignored his dad's fate in Old Corona.

He bitterly turned over in his wooden bed and attempted to find a cool, comfortable spot to lay down, his friend Rudiger the Racoon curling up at the end of the bed and snoring gently. All too soon, his thick raven hair was sweaty again and he just wanted to crawl out of his skin out of discomfort and annoyance.

When was his sentence up again?

"Not soon enough," he thought to himself.

This cycle went on for many hours, as it was the routine for everyday of his life or at least it was shaping up that way. Varian was just about to start his daily begging for the sweet release of death when the two guards silenced. He looked up in surprise at the abrupt lack of sound; his pillow fell onto the dusty cobblestone floor beneath him. He knew that he would pay for that with sneezing and coughing later but he really didn't care.

They were quiet. He smiled to himself when he saw them exit the iron door at the end of the hall with a third guard and made motion to lie back down in earnest, hoping wishfully that he could hopefully get a peaceful moment's rest.

He snuggled deep into his recently retrieved pillow and tried to ignore the dust he was breathing in his noise and splinters poking at his sides. But it didn't matter – it was quiet and peaceful and for once he could get just one minute of rest.

"You have to believe me!"

"Oh, what now?" Varian thought to himself, bolting straight up in frustration. Just when he thought might be able to be left alone.

"I'm not lying!" The voice was louder now, this time easily identifiable as female and in distress. It was getting closer and he could hear the sounds of a slight struggle as well.

From the door came several guards holding tight onto a young girl roughly the same age as him, a distressed downturn to her lips.

"Rapunzel, please!" she called hopelessly to the open door, and Varian felt a seed of anger blossom at the idea that the princess was right behind that door. If she was, she didn't appear at the girl's words. "Rapunzel!"

The guards came over to Varian's cell even as the girl yelled bloody murder and unlocked the steel bar door, which he regarded with a raised eyebrow. Were they planning to throw her in here with him? Oh goodie, a cellmate! He just couldn't wait for another annoyance.

The door swung open and the girl was thrust inside once her handcuffs were removed, and she fell onto her knees and palms with a grunt. The door swung shut with a clang and she turned around to face the guards helplessly as they filed out of the room.

"Please, ask Rapunzel! I'm not lying!"

Varian was a bit intrigued by this girl's insistence for the princess and made a mental note of it. Perhaps he and this girl had something – or rather someone – in common.

No one paid any attention to her and the guards simply slipped out, save two (new, thank God) guards who resumed positions at the end of the hallway. He silently praised the Lord for the fact that mercy had been granted for the guard change before shifting his attention to the girl who was still kneeling hopelessly by the bars. Rudiger now too was awake and crawled to him, quickly clamoring onto his shoulders. It was obvious he too was curious about their new arrival.

Varian regarded her critically for a moment. She was the same age as him, with long brown hair and brown eyes, her feet bare and a flower stuck in her curly hair. Her dress fell only to her knees and appeared to be made very roughly by many fabrics.

Rudiger made curious sounds and the young girl laughed at them, to which Varian's eyebrows shot up.

"I would prefer not to be called 'young girlie'," she said, turning to face them. Varian, who hadn't said anything to her, looked between her and Rudiger for a moment.

"Y-you can understand him?" he asked, which was echoed by Rudiger's own clicks, which Varian took as his own questioning of the girl.

The girl laughed again, this time quieter, and made her way to the cot one the other side of the cell. "Yes, I can."

"H-how?!" he demanded to know. She shook her head and looked away from him, curling a stand of her hair around her finger.

"It's, uh, kind of a long story," she answered. The girl took a seat on the cot and shifted uncomfortably. She reached over and took the pillow in her hands, hugging it tightly to her chest. She looked across to him. "My name's Juliet. What's yours?"

Varian stopped for a moment. Everyone in the kingdom knew who he was – The Weak and Cowardly Varian, who had threatened the princess and nearly killed the queen. He may be in the dungeon, but he still heard the rumor-filled accounts of the events that had transpired. Was this girl pretending not to know him, to gain his trust? Was she from a foreign land?

Eventually, he decided to tell her anyway. "Varian." He motioned to the racoon on his shoulders. "This is Rudiger."

Juliet gave a single, nearly inaudible chuckle after he named himself. "So, you're the infamous Varian? I've heard so much about you from Rapunzel."

He raised an eyebrow. "You know Rapunzel?"

Her eyes darkened. "I thought I did."

Varian felt a sense of kinship with what she said. He too felt as though he once knew Rapunzel, only to learn her true colors far too late.

"Well, what did she tell you about me?" he asked. "I assume she mentioned her rather biased perception of what happened." Juliet shook her head and leaned back against the cold, stone wall.

"She said that you attacked her family and that she was sorry for something," Juliet said. "She never really told me why." Her eyes once again turned dark with anger. "She's never really been good at that, I suppose."

Varian's curiosity sparked as he stared at her. Was this girl like him? Had someone else finally woken up and saw the princess for what she was? Nothing more that a dirty no-good that abandons her friends at the first sniff of trouble?

She looked up at him from under her thick lashes. "What did happen to land you in the dungeon?"

It was now his turn to chuckle lightly. He looked down the hall towards the guards at the end and wondered if they were listening. The last set had only heard him when he practically screeched at them because of how far they were. He hoped these twos had that bad a sense of hearing.

"Me and my father needed Rapunzel's help, and as friends I thought she would help me," he started. "But she turned her back on me – even got me kicked out of the castle when I called her on it – and left my father to be – be –" he cut himself off, unable to say it. He cleared his throat. "Let's just say it, what happened wasn't pretty. Soon enough the whole kingdom turned against me, said I attacked her, and she did nothing to stop it. When all else failed, when I couldn't save my father, I tried to take her family. Let her know how it feels to suffer like I did, because she was the only one with the power to help me and she did nothing."

Juliet sat in silence for a moment and Varian could feel her judging him, but he couldn't bring himself to regret telling her. If someone – even this girl – finally knew the truth of what happened, then it was worth any shame.

"So…. why are you here?" he finally ventured. Juliet leaned forward, slipping the pillow onto the seat next to her. She smiled shyly.

"I'm …. not from around here," she answered. "I lived by myself for the longest time, with nothing but animals." She motioned to Rudiger, who was still lingering over by Varian. "That's how I learned to speak with them." She sighed and stood up, walking over to the bars. "Rapunzel and her friends found me and brought me back here to Corona, to be with people and not by myself anymore. Things were fine for a while, and then suddenly a lot of animals started disappearing." She turned back around to face him, her pale face lit up with the scarlet red of anger. "The King accused me of taking them, since I knew how to speak with them. I told him that it wasn't me, but he didn't believe me, especially since he kept me locked away for a night and that night nothing happened to the animals. I tried explaining to them that I didn't know – pleaded with my friends, with Rapunzel – to let me go, that I didn't do anything, but all she could muster was that she can't override her father."

"She turned her back on you too," Varian said after a moment. She nodded and leaned against the bars with a sad smile.

"I thought she was my friend," Juliet said quietly. "But when I needed her, she didn't do anything to help me."

Rudiger clicked several more times and scurried away from Varian and towards Juliet, and whatever he said only made Juliet appear angry. "It doesn't matter! She could have done something!"

 _"It's not my fault. It's – it's HERS!"_

His angry words rang in his ears as if he just said them, and at last felt justified. This girl, this Juliet, wasn't making any excuses for Rapunzel – instead she was actively (and rightfully so) claiming that it was because of her that misfortune had fallen her.

"I wish I could do something, you know?" Juliet said. "Make them see me and know what they did was wrong."

 _"I'll make them hear me…"_

Varian smiled deviously and stood up, crossing over to her. He leaned across the bars as well, crossing his arms over his chest. Juliet raised an eyebrow at him.

"What if their was a way we could both get what we want?" he asked her. Juliet appeared intrigued by this but whipped her head around to look at the two guards at the end of the hall. Varian laughed softly and took her arm to get her attention. She looked at him in surprise.

"Don't worry, they can't hear us from this far away," he dismissed easily.

"Really?"

"Only if we yell," he shrugged. "You want Rapunzel to see she was wrong, want her to see you and see what she did was wrong, right?" She nodded once. "Well, I want Rapunzel to pay for not helping me." His smile deepened. "If we worked together, we could both get what we want from her."

Juliet looked unsure for a moment, as if testing the idea out in her head. Rudiger said something to her – probably to convince her not to go through with it – but it didn't work, because immedailty after her expression turned furious.

"Sounds like a deal to me," she said, reaching out a hand to shake. Varian smirked and took her hand in his gloved one and gently shook it. He released it and looked at her with a devilish glint in his eye.

"Juliet, this looks like the start of a beautiful friendship," he said.

* * *

 **Legit, Varian is my child and I will protect with a stick if I must.**


	2. The Sun Can't Stop Now

**One-Shot Summary: _Juliet and Varian are now free, but Rudiger and Juliet worry about their resident alchemy genius._**

* * *

 **The Sun Can't Stop Now**

Juliet pulled at her brown ponytail so that it was tighter and ran a hand over her scalp to make sure it was flat. Her hand lingered over the flower she had recently inserted into her curls, the sensation of the stem against her scalp being both foreign and familiar at the same time. After the one she had in her hair had died in the dungeons, she had never had opportunity to put one back in and she had genuinely forgot when her and Varian managed to escape. Varian had surprised her when he had reached over and put in her hair a few hours ago. It had been a welcome surprise, of course, but still.

She looked over at said raven-haired boy as he mixed chemicals on the table, bright colors lighting the darkened room. It was dingy and damp and honestly not very different from the dungeon, but it was the best that had managed to do. Finding this old, tattered shack at the edge of the kingdom had been a God-send. It may be dark, smelly, and with black rocks sticking up from every direction, but it was a definite step-up from where they had been because they at least choose to be here and weren't stuck because of some prissy, pink princess.

Juliet sat on a stool in the corner, Rudiger curled in her lap. Rudiger had been hesitant towards her at first – her being a stranger and all – but gradually the grey and black animal had warmed up to her. She pets his fur calmly as she watched Varian work, hopelessly confused by whatever it was he was doing. He had tried explaining to her what it was exactly, but the only words she had even managed to half-way comprehend were alchemy, sun, and amber.

That had quickly relegated them to their parts of the plan being handled single-handily. Juliet couldn't exactly go out into the public in daylight to converse with animals about possibly following them against Rapunzel, as they were currently public enemy number one, so that meant during the day she was trying not to be hopelessly bored.

"He's been at it for hours!" Rudiger said in that squeaky tone of his.

"I know," Juliet said softly, looking down into the racoon's black eyes and saw deep worry. Whilst most people found it hard to see animal's emotions in their eyes, Juliet almost found it easier to see them in the animals than people. She had practically been raised by a swan and all the animals in the land where she lived, so she had grown up seeing the joy and pain reflected in them and not in the face of her own kind.

 _"You have to do something!"_ Rudiger insisted to her.

"Me?"

" _He doesn't listen to me like you do, and if he keeps going, he's just going to overwork himself!"_ Rudiger said. The animal turned towards his first human friend and shook his furry head. "He needs to take a break Juliet. If he doesn't he'll crash within the hour!"

Juliet didn't even need to consider Rudiger's words to know that he was right. Yesterday Varian had come dangerously to crashing before Juliet had managed to pull him outside to help her with the animals, even though he had complained about not being able to help her.

She could he signs again in him. The way his movements were more frenzied, the sharp way he was doing things, his eyelids dropping beneath those goggles of his.

She sighed and petted Rudiger's fur one last time. "Alright."

She stood up and Rudiger scurried off her, making his way towards the vacated stool by the work area Varian had set up. Juliet made her over to Varian and reached to put a hand on his shoulder, to which he screamed in surprise.

Juliet recoiled backwards and took a few steps back at the sound. Varian put a hand to his chest and turned around to face her, his breath heavier than usual from the shock.

"Oh, Juliet! It's only you!" He reached up to replace his goggles in his messy curls. "Don't sneak up on me like that, you scared me half to death!"

Juliet rolled her eyes. "No one knows were here – who else was I going to be?"

Varian shrugged. "I don't know, but I mean, we are kind of wanted fugitives. For all I knew, the guards could have captured you silently and then come after me!"

Juliet raised an eyebrow at him and crossed her arms. "You really thought this through, haven't you?"

He laughed and brushed his hair out of his eyes. She smiled at him before Rudiger cut through their conversation.

 _"Tell him to take a break!"_

Juliet's smile faded at Rudiger's words as she remembered why she had interrupted him in the first place. She saw his smile disappear from his face as well and he turned to Rudiger.

"What did he say? Is something wrong?"

Juliet rubbed her neck anxiously and reached to take his hand with her other one, a smile she hoped come off as gentle gracing her lips.

"Varian…" she said softly, looking him in the eye. "Don't you think that it's time you took a break? You've been at this all day and if you don't break soon, you know what'll happen…"

His concerned frown turned to one of slight fury as he broke out of her grasp and took an angry step back. "I can't take a break!"

Juliet frowned now as well and put her hands on her hips sternly. "Yes, you can!"

"No, I can't!"

"Yes, you can!"

"No, I can't!"

 _"Juliet, that isn't helping!"_

"Do you have a better idea Rudiger?"

"I'm not taking a break, Juliet! And you know why?"

"Varian, please –"

 _"Juliet, he needs to stop!"_

"I am _not_ going to fight with both of you at the same time!"

"Juliet," Varian butted in amongst the yelling between the three of them, his voice soft, "I can't stop. We simply don't have time. My dad doesn't have time."

Juliet hesitated for a moment on what to say in reply. Varian had been working on something to save his father whenever the things he needed to do required him to wait for the next stop, he was working non-stop on something to save his father, Quirin, from his amber fate. Varian had finally divulged what had happened to Quirin and any second available to them for Varian's father was snatched immedailty. But at the risk of Varian's own health? Was it worth it then?

"'Rian," she said. "Listen to me, we will find a way to save your father and we will find a way to get revenge on them. But please you need to rest. Your working all day, you almost never eat anything, and you never sleep. You're awake when I leave at night and awake when I come back and then up before I can wake up!"

"It's like I said," Varian said, "I don't have time."

"Then _make_ time!" Juliet shot at him harshly. "I will not let you work yourself to death! What if the guards did find us here, huh? What could you do? Nothing, because you're so exhausted that you can barely stay awake! You would be fruit ripe for the picking, and you know I would never let you go back there without me, so we would be stuck right back where we were and forced to come up with a new plan!"

Varian at first didn't show a reaction to her little outburst, before he looked away from her and down at his feet. His expression betrayed that he was little upset by her words but otherwise he just appeared aggravated at her. She sighed.

"I'm worried about you." She reached over and took Rudiger into her arms, and he too stared at the boy with genuine concern. "We both are."

He looked up at them, aggravation melting into an indescribable mix of fear and sadness. "I can't stop. Not until he's free and that kingdom knows every bit of pain it put us through." He put a hand on her shoulder. "What they put you through."

She put her hand on the one of his lying on her shoulder and smiled at him. Rudiger quickly used their conjoined touch as a bridge and slipped around Varian's shoulder, snuggling his head down onto the boy's shoulder in a way meant to be comforting.

"Varian, that kingdom, Rapunzel, even your dad, all of them will still be here. I promise you –"

" ** _Don't you dare make me a promise_ ,**" he exclaimed in a vicious whisper. Juliet blinked once at his harsh words, but he didn't apologize, nor did she expect him too. A promise was something both of them had been given by Rapunzel, only to be sorely disappointed by the outcome.

"I am making you one, right here, right now," she answered shortly. "Because when I say that we will free your dad, that we will make everyone see just who Rapunzel is, know that when I meant it. My promises aren't empty, Varian. And they never will be."

A range of emotions flickered across the young boy's face. Anger. Acceptance. Annoyance. Assurance. Friendship. All of them were directly aimed at her. They were messy and honest and very, very complicated, but neither wavered in that moment. Honest and real and complicated was how they operated.

"Take a break," she said once, her tone gentle and yet also stern. "Please. For me." She caught sight of Rudiger's expression. "And Rudiger."

He looked at her for a moment, and then his expression broke. He gave her a half-smile and straightened his posture up, Rudiger shifting on his shoulders from the movement.

"Well, since you asked so nicely," he joked. "I'll take a break. Perhaps even take a nap."

"Oh, please take a nap," Juliet said. "No offense, but you are mean when you're tired."

Varian raised an eyebrow at her. "I'm mean?"

"Yes, you are. That's why I said it," she said.

"I agree with Juliet," Rudiger interjected. Juliet smiled warmly and pointed at the mammal. "See, Rudiger agrees with me!"

Varian laughed, and not a small laugh, but a real one. Juliet smiled and stepped out of the way. He crossed over to the small bundle of blankets that set up in the corner to sleep in, which Juliet watched with a keen eye, as if she turned away he would make his way back over to his work table. Luckily, he did no such thing and instead laid down on the blankets. Rudiger slipped off his shoulders and quickly crawled over and up Juliet, landing on her shoulders. Varian may be in need of sleep, but Rudiger apparently wasn't. Juliet gave him one pet on the head as acknowledgement before returning her full attention to Varian.

"You better sleep for at least an hour or I swear, I'll turn you back into the guards myself," Juliet warned him. Muffled laughs rang in her ears.

"Dually noted," he said between a yawn. Juliet looked out the window and saw the sun beginning its descent into the land below. It was almost time for her to rally the animals to their cause, and Juliet had the sinking suspicion the moment she was out the door, he would hop right back and keep working.

"If you get up after I'm gone, Rudiger will tell me, so don't think that will work."

Something was muttered she couldn't hear, and she laughed.

* * *

 **Please help, these two have overtaken my life.**


	3. Hand In My Hand, And We Promised

**_One-Shot Summary: Varian wonders what his future will hold, especially the one he may have with the brunette standing right in front of him, and after a pivotal moment with Juliet learns something he should have known long ago._**

* * *

 **Hand In My Hand, And We Promised To Never Let Go**

Varian _hated_ the snow. It was cold, bitter, and brought up rather unpleasant memories, so it was a bit touchy for him.

He shivered in the frigid wind and pulled the shawl he had snagged off a cart tight around him. He and Juliet had been reluctant to take it from the merchant while the seller was sleeping, but the harsh weather had forced him to slip away cloaks for them. He had, however, promised Juliet – and himself- that they would put them back.

Varian watched Juliet calmly speak with a group of snowy white owls on a tree branch and felt a familiar snarl of curiosity. He had so many questions about Juliet's abilities and he ached to understand them. Were all animals able to communicate with each other, as Juliet could speak with all animals? Had Juliet learned per species – _were_ animal languages separated by species? Do the different squeaks and chirps constitute different dialects?

Juliet had merely shrugged when asked about it, saying it was something she just knew, like how he knew to breath and walk. Any further investigation into the matter had quickly been sidelined by the need to escape and then trying to implement the plan. Varian supposed that would have to wait until after.

Something twisted something in his stomach at the thought of a _fter._ What would life be like after? They didn't want to kill anyone – the murderous rage that had rose the last time he tried to corner Rapunzel had subdued quickly and he knew Juliet would balk at the possibility if he brought it up. Not that he would. Death wasn't going to get them anywhere and he realized that he really didn't want someone to die at his hands.

After they got revenge, would they simply just be locked up again? Would they be able to escape? If they were just stuck back in that dungeon again, would this plan really do anything? Lord knew that if they were to be imprisoned again, the King would strictly forbid them from being cellmates and Varian couldn't imagine a life without Juliet. Not anymore.

Juliet laughed at some of the chirps the owls said. "No, I don't think that will be necessary. But thanks anyway." She reached down to twirl the ring on her right hand. Varian at first hadn't noticed the ring Juliet always wore – it was very small and all shine it once had had dulled. But it turned out that Juliet was very attached to it; something about it seemed to be connected to Juliet the way his goggles always were on his head.

The largest owl gave one more chirp and turned his head to the side. Juliet nodded once. "I promise you, we don't any of your brethren to get hurt and will do everything in our power to keep them safe."

And that was another thing about Juliet – she was a frequent promise maker despite their sketchy history with promises. Her tone and stance were one that portrayed complete confidence that she can and will get that promise done, and Varian felt in his heart of hearts that she would get what she said done.

He blocked his thoughts before he could think back to the last people he had once thought that of.

He felt something rub against his boots and he looked down to see Rudiger nuzzling against his leather boot. He rolled his crystal blue eyes and reached down to pick up the nocturnal mammal.

"I thought you wanted to stay behind," Varian said to him. Rudiger said something to him, but as he did not have that same talent as Juliet did he didn't _quite_ get the whole picture, and so Varian shook his head in slight exasperation and smiled at him instead. Rudiger returned with a smile of his own. Though Juliet may understand him literally, Varian had known Rudiger far longer and so could communicate with him in his own peculiar way.

"I thought Rudiger told me he wanted to stay behind," Juliet said, having broken away from the owls finally. Varian saw her approaching them, her feet making a slight indention in the blanket of snow covering the ground and the small drizzle of flakes finding purchase in her brunette ponytail.

"I think he changed his mind," Varian said. Rudiger followed this up with his own comment and Juliet laughed. Varian raised an eyebrow at the exchange.

"What did he say that was so funny?" he asked. Juliet let out last chuckle and crossed her arms across her chest from the cold.

"Something along the lines of 'obviously'," Juliet answered. To this Varian did laugh lightly, the movement in his chest causing a slight rumbling that did not please Rudiger all that much. Rudiger tittered a few times and jumped towards Juliet, who quickly took him in her own arms.

"Oh, my fairy godmother," Juliet said, hugging Rudiger tightly to her chest, "He's freezing! Oh, goodness, Rudiger, why did you come out here? Your fur won't keep you completely warm, you know that!"

Rudiger looked up at her with a pleading expression and said something to her, but Juliet dismissed what he said with a 'tsk!' and a stern expression.

"No excuses, mister," Juliet said. Her eyes shot towards her human companion. "We need to take him back."

"Now?"

"Yes, _now_ ," she said to him. Varian looked at her, flabbergasted.

"If we go now, we'll lose a whole night," Varian said to her. Juliet rolled her eyes and held up Rudiger, his small black eyes looking into Varian's blue ones directly.

"Look at this face," Juliet said. "Say no to this face. Let this face get sick." Her eyes narrowed. "I _dare_ you."

Varian, who really didn't want Rudiger to get sick at all, sighed and ran a hand over his eyes over-dramatically, more for pretense than anything else.

"Alright, fine, let's go," Varian relented. Juliet smiled and moved past him, Rudiger looking rather sheepish as he made eye contact with Varian.

" _Sorry,"_ Varian whispered to the racoon, hoping Juliet couldn't hear. There was no stopping Juliet once she got started, and now she had decided that Rudiger needed to return to their hideout. It would be best for all three of them if they just let her return the racoon back before it turned into an ordeal.

"Varian!"

"Coming!" he said, following her. They made their way back to the hideout in relative silence, the only sounds being their gentle steps against the loosely packed snow and the rustling of their cloaks.

The silence didn't bother Varian all that much, it wasn't awkward but instead was a comfortable one. Neither one bothered to breach the quiet which allowed Varian's thoughts to return to his own musings.

What was the future? Juliet – unlike him – had technically been innocent of the crimes she was accused of. While he still believed what he did to have some justification, busting out of that jail cell had been her first transgression against society and after the plan was implemented, she would rack up many more of them. Any leniency that had been allocated for her would be gone if they were sent back, as would the small amount that had been lobbied for him against his wishes.

If this plan was going to send her spiraling into the possibility of a punishment far worse than what they had in the dungeons, could he go through with it? Could he let her go through with it?

" _Do I even want to go through with this anymore?"_

Varian blinked at such a bizarre thought. Where had that come from? Of course, he wanted to go through with it! That's what all this was for! There was no going back now….

Right?

"'Rian!" came Juliet's voice, calling him back from his thoughts. Varian shook his head and looked up at her after a moment. Her head tilted to the side in confusion – Rudiger mimicking it in a way that was not creepy _at all,_ Varian swears, no really, - at the door of the hideout. Rudiger was still clutched tightly to her chest in a protective, maternal way.

"Varian, did you hear _anything_ I just said?" she asked him with a furrowed brow. Varian fumbled for a moment as he decided on if it would be better to fake pretending what she said or outright telling her he literally had no clue what she told him. It turned out he didn't need an answer, because she took his silence as an answer. She sighed once and opened the wooden door, letting Rudiger in before once again shutting it with a gentle thud and turning again to face him.

"Give me your cloak," she said to him, holding out her hands.

"What?" he asked.

"Dang, you are really confused tonight," Juliet said, "I need your cloak, so I can take them back." Varian blushed once in embarrassment – of what, he wasn't sure – before quickly shaking his head at her.

"No, I'll take them back," he insisted, holding out his own hand. She crossed her arms and leaned forward, her lips downturned into a bored frown.

"'Rian, I think we both know I'm the one that needs to take them back," she said matter-of-factly. He rolled his eyes, a nice smile being his confrontation to her frown.

"And why, pray tell, are you the one that needs to return them?" he asked.

" _You_ got them, so you've already been seen. I need to go return them, so that way people won't detect a pattern," she said. When she said it like that he made prefect sense and it made him a little upset with himself he had to have it explained.

"Oh, well, when you say it like _that,_ "Varian said, scrapping a foot across the ground. Juliet gave a laugh which made him blush in embarrassment. He looked away from her to hide it because the thought of her seeing him flustered only embarrassed him even more. Why was he blushing so much tonight?

"Okay, so just hand it over," she said. The brunette held out her hand again expectantly. Varian looked down at the cloak and moved to take it off before an idea popped into his head. He smiled with mischief in his eyes and looked up from under his eyelids.

"What this?" he said, motioning downward to his cloak. She raised an eyebrow at him, unsure.

"Yes, the cloak, Varian," she said sternly. He smirked at her and held his hands open at his sides, inclining his body down slightly in a bow.

"Well, come get it then," he said. Varian then aligned his body straight back and Juliet's eyes widened at his implication. He then took off towards the tree line, his boots kicking up the snow around him. He heard a groan behind him and then the sound of rustled snow as Juliet took after him.

" _Varian!"_

He weaved his way through the nearby trees; he remained near enough that remaining light from the village let him see. The sounds of Juliet hurrying after were getting closer and closer by the second and the combination of his rushed pace and her encroachment making his heart flutter faster and forcing his adrenaline to pump in considerable amounts. All around, he felt alive and well at the moment.

" _Not so fast!"_ she exclaimed, latching onto his elbow and pulling him back towards her. This pulled him backwards except his left foot, which got caught on a nearby tree root. This pulled him down to the ground and took her with him and they fell back into the snow.

"Ah!" they scram in fusion as they hit the white ground beneath them. He tried to shake out his foot from the tree root, but it mostly resulted in him banging his appendage against it. Once he finally managed to slip his foot free he looked over to see a glowering, snow-covered Juliet.

"You!" was all she said. She reached blindly for a fistful of snow; her gaze never leaving Varian as she fixated him with a steely glare. Varian eyes widened as she thrust the loose and disorderly bundle of snow towards him, which hit him squarely in the middle of his leg. He laughed at the lack of pain the feared snowball had inflicted and fell back into the snow. Snow nestled into his hairdo and most likely the eyes of his goggles, but he really didn't care all that much.

He heard the rustling of snow and looked to the side to see Juliet crawling towards him, very red-faced and very upset. She tried to push him away – even though she had come closer to him – but her hand was slick from the snow, and just simply slipped off him. This caused her to lose her upper body balance and she fell into the snow next to him with a 'hmpf!'

"Oh, I _hate_ you, Varian!" Juliet said. Varian just laughed at that, knowing that she really didn't mean it. "Why are you laughing? You – _you – you –"_

A nearby bird chirped something and she pointed to the general direction the bird had tweeted from. "That. Varian, you are a nicer version of _that."_

He cocked his head to the side in confusion. "You realize I have no idea what they just said, right?"

"Oh, you probably don't want to know," Juliet said. Varian raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything else to her on the subject. Juliet shook her head and shivered once as she leaned up. Varian quickly followed her motion and leaned forward, casting his hands back behind him to distribute his weight a bit more evenly. Something crossed Juliet's face as another beat of silence enveloped them, her gaze lingering on him for so long a moment that it became a bit awkward for him.

"What'cha thinking about?" Varian asked. Juliet snapped out of whatever daze she had been drawn into with a series of frenzied blinks. She then sighed and looked away from him.

"I was thinking how nice it would have been if we had met without this huge target on our backs," Juliet said. "We could go outside, just hang out, do all the things fifteen years old are _supposed_ to do. Not planning what amounts to treason. You know?"

Truthfully, Varian hadn't thought a lot about what that would have been like. He had come to accept a long time ago that being a normal fifteen-year-old kid was not in the cards for him. He chose not to dwell too much on wonders about what it would have been like to meet Juliet back before all this began, or even in a world where none of this happened.

"Not really," he admitted honestly. "Our lives are really different than most people our age. I don't like to dwell so much about the lives we could have had."

Juliet chuckled softly in her throat and pulled her legs closer to her chest, wrapping her arms around them. "I think about it a lot. I just wish – I don't know, that we could be normal. The only good thing out of all this was the fact I got to meet you, everything else has just been paranoia and running." She looked over at him, a smile on her lips. "Running around, joking, everything we just did, I wish it could be like that all the time." She scoffed at herself once. "Once, I actually had a dream about a life like that. We were best friends, your dad was free, and Rapunzel never turned her back on us."

"Sounds like a great dream," Varian said, mostly to himself.

"It was," she said. "Just about the only weird thing was that Rapunzel was my sister, so that was a bit strange."

"Oh God," Varian said, starting to laugh again. Juliet rolled her eyes and slapped his shoulder gently.

"Don't make fun of my dream," she warned, her tone harsh but eyes teasing. "In the dream, me and Rapunzel were close, like back when she first found me, and I felt something you know? That got me thinking about all this, about what were we doing, made me …... second guess? I don't know." Juliet shook her head and averted his gaze.

He furrowed his brow and put a hand on her shoulder. "Are you wanting to call off the plan?"

"Of course not!" she immedailty reacted, before retracting back. "Yes? Maybe? I don't know." She growled and threw her hands up. "Why is this so complicated?" She turned to him, her gaze sharp. "All I know is that I'm starting to think I reacted too quickly."

Varian blinked as he processed all the information Juliet had laid bare. So, he wasn't the only one having second thoughts after all. Like her, he wasn't completely sure he wanted to call this whole revenge plan off, but somewhere in the back of his mind he had decided that maybe it was okay if he wanted to back out. Just free his dad and get out of Corona as fast as possible after. Maybe…. Juliet and he could do that after all.

"Jules," he whispered, wrapping his arm around her in a comforting hug. She smiled at him and inched forward. Varian suddenly became very hyper aware of how close the two really were when he felt her breath on his nose, and all emotion wiped from his face at this realization. Juliet – who apparently hadn't noticed how close they were yet – furrowed her brow at him.

"'Rian, what's wrong?" she asked.

"I – uh, um…" He scrambled for something to say. It's not that he didn't enjoy having Juliet this close to him – because he was finding with every passing moment that he did enjoy it -, but he didn't want to insult her by saying something like her _needing_ to move away. If she wanted to move away, well that was her right and he couldn't stop her, but he didn't want to push her away.

He began to search for anywhere to look besides her inquisitive eyes, and found his eyes drawn toward her pink lips. And then, all at once, all he could think fixate on was her lips and how small and amazing and perfect they were. He felt the all-consuming need to lean down and…

As if sensing his change in mood, her expression shifted from worry to something indiscernible to him.

"'Rian…" she whispered softly.

"I really want to kiss you," he breathed, leaning his forehead against hers. Her eyes slid shut at the contact and slithered her hand up to rest on his neck.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" she said. "Kiss me."

And there went the only thing holding him back. He leaned down and captured her lips in a kiss, hand resting on her cheek. It wasn't a fancy or all that spectacular kiss if one were to consider in context of all kisses between humans, but to Varian it was the best kiss to ever transpired. He really didn't have all that much experience in this area since this was his first kiss ever, although he had serious doubts any kiss he ever had would be as good.

It made his head feel like it was spinning around and set off butterflies in his stomach so that they changed into fireworks in his chest. Juliet's lips were soft and warm, and he never wanted to pull away from them. The feeling of her pulled against him and his lips moving in union with hers almost made everything that had happened – being on the run, being in prison, all of it, - worth it.

It wasn't that long of a kiss, and they broke apart quickly for air. For a moment they just stared at each other in an awed silence, their foreheads still touching. Eventually Juliet blinked, and the moment became awkward, and she quickly stood up and held out her hand to him. Varian looked at her in confusion.

"The cloak," she eventually said, her voice notably devoid of any detectable emotion. "I need to take it back."

"Oh, right." Varian quickly slipped the cloak off and Juliet took it silently. She slipped it over her arm and turned to leave, before stopping just before the tree line. She then spun around as quickly as the snow would allow and stared at him with wide eyes.

"I, uh, really liked the kiss," she said. Varian moved to stand, to react, to do something, but then she was gone into the village. He reached out a hand, as if that would bring her back, before returning it to his side. He smiled softly to himself and gazed at the direction she had went in.

"Me too," he said aloud, even though she couldn't hear him. He shook his head and turned to weave his way back towards the hideout, his thoughts clearer then they had been all night.

 _"_ _I thought this was all I could be_

 _A giant dollop of broken dreams and promises,_

 _But now I see, I can be more that I dreamt I'd be_

 _Thanks to her, I see that all along_

 _I never actually knew myself at all,_

 _She makes me proud to be me,_

 _And I know no matter what I do_

 _I will make sure she is safe,_

 _She is safe…."_

"There he is!" called a voice the second he exited the tree line. Varian snapped up to see a guard at the entrance of the hideout, another one directly next to him and holding Rudiger roughly in his arms. "Get him!" He felt a pair of strong arms grasp him from behind and he struggled to break free of it, but he was only a fifteen-year-old and there wasn't much he could do to hold off a fully frown man.

"Let me go!" he demanded, but as expected (seriously, why he even said it, was the real question he asked himself) no one let go of him.

"Whoa, easy there, kid," said the arms holding him, and Varian stopped struggling. That voice. It couldn't be. There was no way it was _him_ that managed to capture him. Varian swiveled around his neck to look up at the man holding him, and sure enough it was _Eugene_ of all people, decked out in full winter gear.

"There we go," Eugene said, still not letting go of Varian. "Do you have _any_ idea how hard it was to track you down? The least you could do is not resist arrest, _please_."

Varian would be lying to himself if he wasn't at least a little glad he made them scramble to find him.

The guard not holding Rudiger held out a pair of chain handcuffs, but Eugene dismissed that with a shake of his head.

"That won't be necessary," Eugene insisted, before coming around to face Varian, still keeping a firm grip on the boy's shoulders as a means to keep him there. "Varian, please, I know you're angry with us right now –"

"Really, _what_ tipped you off to that tidbit of information?" Varian snarked.

"– but I need your help, right here, right now," Eugene continued, as if never having been cut off. "If you help us, we can convince the King to let you go free. I need you to tell me where Juliet is."

Varian balked at that and looked at Eugene as if he asked him to murder Rudiger, which honestly was what it felt like. How had only five minutes ago he'd been laughing with Juliet and having his first kiss with her, and now he was facing turning her in for his freedom? Varian felt his mind clear for the second time that night and felt something with in him finally click.

Before, he had never understood why Rapunzel hadn't gone to help him. But almost all at once he saw it with stunning clarity. He was now being forced between keeping Juliet – _his Juliet_ – safe and out of the grasp of guards or striking against Rapunzel and her friends. While he still was angry with them, he suddenly understood the impossible choice Rapunzel faced that day in the palace hallway. Two wants and needs tearing at you, knowing in your heart which was the best and having to do it.

Rapunzel's choice had been her kingdom or her friend, and Rapunzel had with justification chosen her kingdom. Now this was Varian's: making sure Juliet got the freedom she deserved or getting revenge on the people that had put them in that dungeon. His wasn't as important as Rapunzel's, but this was his. This was one of his crossroads. At all previous ones, he had chosen wrong. Messing with the rocks, going after Rapunzel in a blizzard when he should have been with Quirin, lashing out at the royal family, every one of the decisions had been wrong. And every single one of them had gotten him to this exact point, lead to his life as it was now.

Maybe finally, he could break that streak.

"Juliet?" he asked, feigning disgust with a sneer. "You mean that annoying girl that was thrown in the cell with me? I'm glad when I busted out that I finally got to get rid of her nasally voice."

Eugene frowned at him. "We've talked to the guards on shift while you two were in custody. They said you two were always whispering, that you two were really close. I know you know where she is."

Varian saw over his shoulder a whisper of brunette hair at the corner of the street and for a second met the terrified eyes of Juliet. He could see it all now, her running forward and loudly revealing herself. He subtly shook his head, his gaze directed at her, before meeting Eugene's eyes again.

"Can't help you," Varian said. "Last I saw her, she was saying something about running back home. You know with her dad, Azul the Swan or something like that?"

Juliet must have heard what he said – and gotten the idea that it was supposed to buy her time to escape – because she turned on her heel and back around the corner she had come. Varian smiled inwardly at seeing her leave. He felt Eugene's disappointment in him at what Varian said, but he didn't care.

This time, Varian had finally chosen correctly. Maybe this choice was one he could learn to live with. Maybe this choice would give Juliet the freedom he wanted – no, _needed_ – her to have. And maybe, just maybe, this choice would have been one that made his father proud.

* * *

 **I call them Alchemy Animals and Julian if anyone wants to know. Rudiger is their baby, legit. Varian is the dad that's like "you do you but at least try to follow the rules" type and Juliet is full on helicopter mom and it's adorable and I love it. This One-Shot is tragically terrible, especially the part with the kiss, I know. Full disclosure, the most I've ever done is hold my ex-boyfriend's hand and hug him and we dated like a year and a half ago. So, the kiss narration was just kind of passed on narration from Young Adult Novels, tbh. Please keep that in mind when reading it. The centered part is supposed to be a song, which I consider an unofficial second reprise to "Let Me Make You Proud".**


	4. All I Want

**_One-Shot Summary: Juliet is brought before Rapunzel, and Juliet realizes everything she did wrong, but knows that kiss with Varian was right._**

* * *

 **All I Want Is To Fly With You, All I Want Is To Fall With You**

The chains on her arms were cold and tight, just as they had been the first time.

Juliet looked down at them as a way to keep from looking at the guards leading her towards the throne room – most likely for sentencing _again_ – and tried ignoring the growing disappointment at herself. Two months, that's all she managed to procure for herself. Varian had thrown away a chance at freedom and she had blown it by being caught two months later.

Dear God, she was _stupid._ Stupid to think that she could ever truly be free. First had been Azul the Swan's constant rules and regulations, then the chains placed on her by her former friends, and that was followed by the constant guilt at watching her best friend, the one she started to think maybe was more than her friend, being taken away because he _lied_ to save _her._

That storm that brought her to Azul and that stupid island should have just killed her when it had the chance.

The door to the throne room thrust open with no announcements, just a thunderous boom as the doors swung wide suddenly. The guard unlocked her handcuffs and then hurriedly pushed her in to the room but remained outside as the doors once again shut with a notably loud boom.

Juliet adjusted her weight from having been thrust in so suddenly, and then looked up to see five pairs – six if you counted Pascal, which Juliet did – of eyes staring at her. All of them appeared to be looking at her with an expression that could only be descried as a relief, which only confused the animal whisperer.

She had expected King Fredrick being here to sentence her, and for him to have a look of cool anger as he sentenced her to another life imprisonment. Perhaps even Arianna wasn't that big of a stretch being here and Rapunzel for that matter, considering the two were royalty as well. But Cassandra and Eugene? Those were two massive curve balls she had _not_ been expecting.

"Uh…hi?" she tried, looking amongst them with wide eyes.

"Oh, Juliet, we were so worried about you!" Rapunzel immedailty lamented, rushing over to pull her into a tight embrace. Juliet immedailty stiffened at the touch, having not been expecting such a sudden rush from the princess. This was soon followed up by wondering why the princess had been worried about her – she was an escaped fugitive. The princess shouldn't have been worried about her.

"You were worried about me?" she asked. She cast her eyes on the king, who after seeing she was okay had immedailty gone back to a wall of impassiveness and raised an eyebrow. "All of you?"

Eugene stepped forward then, crossing his arms with a smile. "Of course, we all were." His own eyes cut across at the patriarch of the Corona royal family. "Okay, some more than others, but you get the point." The king, who seemed to not be taking the open talking about him, stood from his throne suddenly and walked forward in the slow way only adults trying to appear imposing know how to do.

"It has come to my attention that we –" Rapunzel cleared her throat with a raised eyebrow "– okay, _I_ may have been quick to judgement. It was wrong of me to sentence you without evidence, but all the animals were disappearing so quickly, and you were the easiest explanation." The king looked down, almost embarrassed. "I'm sorry for the role I played in your imprisonment."

Juliet knew the right thing to say was that she forgave him for that, but couldn't find it within herself, at least not right now. The king gave an air of someone that was not used to not getting his way and the way he apologized seemed to have a rehearsed tone to it, as if he had to apologize quite often. So instead, Juliet just narrowed her eyes at him until Rapunzel stepped forward to speak, making sure to block the view of Fredrick from Juliet's eyes.

"All charges against you have been dropped," Rapunzel said happily. "Me, Eugene, and Cass did a little digging and we discovered that there was a man trying to smuggle animals, and when he heard wind you were the number one suspect, he tried to frame you."

Juliet looked up at her at a moment, guilt rising in her. Just before Juliet had been dragged to the dungeon, Rapunzel had called down that she would find the underlying cause of this. She had _promised_ her. And Rapunzel had gone through with it. Juliet had planned _revenge_ against her. Juliet had _hated_ her over something she thought Rapunzel didn't do, when in actuality she had.

"We were coming to get you when we heard you and Varian broke out," Cassandra piped up. Juliet couldn't believe this. Her mind and pulse were racing as her body rushed to keep up with what her ears were hearing. Her friends hadn't forgotten her, they had tried to help her, they were going to free her.

Tears welled in her eyes as the revelations caught up with her. Rapunzel reached out a hand to put on her shoulder and Juliet choked out a sob. "I -I'm _so_ sorry."

"Juliet, it's okay –" Arianna started to say, her tone forever kind and maternal.

"No, it's not," Juliet said. "I hated you. _All of you._ I thought you left me out to dry when I needed you most and I was going to do something _stupid_ because of it. I _should_ have trusted you, I _should_ have just waited, I – "

"Juliet, calm down!" Rapunzel said, placing her hands on the young girl's shoulders. "Everything's alright."

"No, it's not," Juliet said. "I didn't trust you, when I should have. It was so stupid and selfish of me to bust out of that prison cell."

"You're right, that was _not_ your best decision Juliet," Eugene said honestly.

" _Eugene!"_

"What? Blondie, I'm not goanna _lie_ to the girl," Eugene said. Cassandra rolled her eyes and smacked him behind the head as she passed him.

"Ow!" Eugene said, rubbing the back of his head where Cassandra had struck him.

"You could have been subtler about it," Cassandra said, condescension in her eyes. "But he has a point. Juliet, why didn't you trust us? We weren't going to just forget about you."

Juliet blinked away the tears her eyes had conjured and looked up at the short-haired woman. Why had she run? That was the million-dollar question, one she wanted an answer to as well. Why hadn't she trusted her friends? Why had she automatically assumed they wouldn't be there for her?

"I-I don't know," she stated softly and honestly. "I never really had friends before, I thought – I thought leaving was the only way for me. That it was the best way, that I could – I could _punish_ you for the slights I imagined you preformed against me." She breathed once heavily and shut her eyes, turning away from them. "I'm so sorry. Can you ever forgive me?"

"Of course," Rapunzel said, while Fredrick's expression seemed to indicate he had went in the exact opposite direction. He didn't seem all that ready to voice his opinion on that matter, so he remained silent, but the unsaid 'no' hung over Juliet harshly.

"But not for free," Cassandra interjected. Juliet looked up at Cassandra in confusion. "We need to know if you have any information on Varian, if he's planning something. If you know anything, _please_ tell us."

Juliet took only a few seconds to decide what to say. "He wasn't planning anything. It was my idea, what we were goanna do, but I promise you, we hadn't done anything illegal. Besides, you know, breaking out of prison. Without me, he wasn't going to do anything, and without him, I definitely wasn't going to go through with it."

"Hold up, so you're saying it was your idea to break out of jail?" Eugene asked, incredulity in his voice. "And it was your idea to plan a huge revenge attack?"

"Yes," she answered. Arianna frowned.

"Juliet, sweetie, Varian said the two of you went your separate ways after he got out, and your escaping was just because you two shared a cell," Arianna said gently. Her eyes and smile were kind and actually was very comforting. Juliet could say all she wanted about the stand-offish and aloof King Fredrick, but Queen Arianna was someone that Juliet could never bring herself to disparage.

"He's lying," Juliet said, "He's trying to protect me, but it was my idea." Pascal shook his head and scurried off of Rapunzel's shoulder and stopped shortly at Juliet's feet.

" _That is a load of malarkey!"_ Pascal exclaimed at her feet. " _Rudiger when him and Varian were captured told me the whole story – just tell them that you two were in this together."_

"Pascal, I can't do that," Juliet said.

"I have no idea what the frog just said, but I agree with him!" Eugene said rather enthusiastically, which earned him a rather exasperated eye-roll from Cassandra.

" _You two haven't technically committed treason or done anything yet,"_ Pascal continued. " _All charges against you have been dropped. Admitting to having been the only one just makes Varian lying seem liking he's planning something more, something you're not apart of."_

"Is that what they think?" Juliet asked softly, looking down at Pascal. "That Varian is still up to something?"

"Yes, we do," Fredrick said. "We want to give the boy the benefit of the doubt since he's so young, but he not only tried to murder the Queen, he declared war on the entire kingdom, committed high treason, and then became a fugitive of the law. And given his unusually high intellect, we can't rule anything out."

Juliet was unsure. Admitting that he also had a hand in the now defunct (?) plan would only increase the ire of the King and the Royal Family, but given what they were currently thinking, wouldn't it be worth telling them that this plan was no longer relevant? Varian may have a bit of suspicion finally lifted off him.

Juliet sighed and finally spoke. "Me and Varian met in the dungeons. We both felt betrayed and we wanted to do something about it …."

* * *

It was just as cold down here as she remembered. Juliet shivered as she made her way down the dungeon, Rapunzel following soon behind her.

After explaining the story and the plan to them in full, Juliet hadn't had any charges brought against her in light of her honesty and the fact the she hadn't technically done anything yet. But after, she had immedailty asked to speak with Varian, much to the chagrin of Fredrick. He had started with some comment about how Juliet could be just trying to break him out again, but Rapunzel had quickly spoken up to grant that permission as long as there was someone watching them – which translated to 'You can do it, but I'm going with you.'

Juliet had been less than thrilled with the stipulation, but there wasn't much she could do under the circumstances. She was barely out of their bad graces and certainly not in their good ones, and she knew she had been pushing it by asking to see Varian at all. By some miracle Rapunzel had agreed and she wasn't in any position to argue.

They came to the door leading into the dungeons and found two guards standing at full attention. One was tall and lean, his face narrow and completely clean shaven, while the other was a bit taller with a stocky build and a moustache that was so thick it covered his mouth. Their faces broke out in grins at the sight of Rapunzel, before they quickly slithered off as their gazes caught Juliet.

"Princess," the slim one said, a forced carelessness glinting in his eyes, "What brings you down here?"

Rapunzel slipped a hand on Juliet's shoulder with a smile. "We came to see Varian."

"Varian?" the stocky one said with a raised eyebrow. "The only one who's come to visit him in a month was that racoon of his – what's his name again?"

"Rudiger," Juliet supplied, her tone more forceful than helpful. He snapped his fingers in realization and smiled at Juliet in thanks.

"Yeah, Rudiger, that's right, thanks," he said. "I wanted to call him Drew for some reason."

"Stan," the tall one said with a roll of his eyes, "You think everyone is named Drew, Lewis, or Mimi. It's a little weird."

"Whatever Pete," Stan said good-naturedly. Rapunzel cleared her throat to regain their attention. They snapped back to face her easily, and Juliet couldn't help but wonder how often they got distracted.

"Uh, guys?" Rapunzel asked, motioning to the door.

"Oh, right!" Stan said, and the two reached to open the door. The doors opened wide with a creak and she hesitated for a moment. What would Varian say when he saw her? Would he be disappointed that everything he had thrown away that night was for nothing? Last time he had saw her she was running away from him as he had been captured – regardless of it had seemed that he wanted her to run, there must be some resentment he had aimed against her.

"Come on," Rapunzel said gently, pushing her forward. The doors shut behind them softly and Juliet stared down at the end of the hall. It seemed all of the prisoners along this line of cells had been moved to another, as the only occupied cell was at the very end of the hallway, facing them directly.

In the cell was a figure leaning against the metal bars, turned directly to face the walls. A pair of goggles was haphazardly inserted into their raven hair which in itself was messy, most likely from having been run through many times in exasperation.

 _Varian._

A much smaller figure zipped out of the bars and towards the two of them, immedailty crawling up Juliet and coming to rest on her shoulders. Juliet gave a quiet laugh at them and scratched the head of the gray and black animal.

" _Juliet! You're back! We missed you!"_

"I missed you too, Rudiger," Juliet said. If Varian heard her, he made no motion that he did.

"Varian?" Rapunzel called out to him, her voice just the tad bit unsure. "We've come to speak with you."

" _We?"_ Varian asked, not turning to face them. Ah, so he hadn't heard her. "Did you finally convince Eugene or Cass to come visit me?" The way at which he spoke implied that Rapunzel came to visit often enough, which made Juliet feel somewhat relieved. So, someone within the palace walls was still looking out for him.

"No," Juliet said, "I finally got caught."

For a moment, nothing happened. Then there was a gasp from Varian's form and he rushed to standing, turning wildly to face them. His eyes widened when he saw her, which she returned with a shy grin. He reached forward and gripped the metal bars tightly, nearly sticking his head out of the bars as he looked across at them.

"Jules," he said, his eyes in a daze. "Y-you, how – you mean – you got caught?"

Juliet rolled her eyes and rested her hands on her hips. "I've noticed that for a genius, you ask a _bunch_ of rather obvious questions." A flash of humor appeared on his face, but it wasn't enough to break the serious mood that encased them.

"Juliet," he said sternly. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to see you," she said, walking over to the bars with a soft smile. She heard the gentle padding of Rapunzel following her, but a little piece away she stopped suddenly, most likely to not invade on what they were going to say but also to be close enough she could hear if they said something of note.

"But why aren't you locked up like me?" Varian asked.

"They found the man that framed me for what I was jailed for originally," Juliet said. "And because we technically hadn't done anything else yet besides breaking out, they didn't try me again." Rudiger jumped down from her shoulders and back into Varian's side of the bars, rubbing against his legs before sitting down to look up at Juliet from the ground.

"So…you're free?" Varian finally said. "For good? As in, no longer on the run?"

" _Yes,_ " she said. An elated grin broke out across Varian's face and he reached between the bars to take her hand, squeezing it happily.

"That's fantastic!" Varian said. From his expression to the way he grasped her hand, it was easy to tell he really meant it. That was a bit of a shock for her, she thought he would be a bit aggravated the whole time he had been re-imprisoned for a girl that didn't even have an arrest warrant.

"Just, just _please_ don't hate me," Juliet said. Even if Varian was excited for her now, his mood could change on the dime once she told him everything she told the royals. "I told them everything about the plan – that we were both involved, what we were goanna do."

"You…told them everything?" Varian asked slowly, still not letting go of her hand. Juliet gulped.

"Yes, _everything,_ " she repeated. "They thought you were up to something – as in you had a solo plan that you were still waiting to go through with and I'm assuming you don't anymore – _please tell me you don't_ – and because they aren't charging me over it, they can't charge you, I know, Rapunzel told me so, and the Queen too, and I know you probably hate me –"

"Jules –" Varian tried to say, but Juliet just talked over him.

"– you're stuck here, and they didn't even _want_ me, at least they didn't want me arrested and they wanted me –"

"Juliet."

"– I'm _so_ sorry –"

" _Juliet!"_

Juliet silenced at the force in his voice but found that he wasn't wearing an angry expression. He appeared …... happy?

"Sorry," she whispered softly in conclusion, looking down at her feet.

"Juliet," Varian said, a healthy chortle in his voice, "I _don't_ hate you."

What?

"A little jealous? Okay – a lot jealous. But I don't hate you over this," Varian said. "There are a lot better reasons to hate someone."

Rapunzel fidgeted uncomfortably, obviously knowing she was the current target of his hate. Juliet bit her lip and looked over at Rapunzel before returning to look at him, a question in her eyes. Varian shook his head at the implied words and looked down at the ground. _Do you still hate her?_

"It's complicated," Varian admitted with a sigh. "I'm not angry. But I know I'm long ways off from being _there_ yet."

Juliet nodded. Juliet could get what he was saying – while she suddenly understood that what happened w _asn't_ Rapunzel's fault, it was hard to let go of that much anger so suddenly. Hadn't she moments before denied forgiveness to King Fredrick? She supposed that she could one day give him that, but for now she knew she couldn't.

" _If it makes you feel better, I don't hate her!"_ Rudiger said. Juliet laughed and bended down to look at him directly, breaking contact with Varian for the first time since he took her hand.

"That's very comforting, Rudiger," Juliet said with a smile. Rudiger crossed over to her side and quickly crawled into her arms. Juliet stood straight again and hugged him close to her, which he responded too by rubbing his head against her shoulder as a sign of affection.

"Take him with you," Varian said. Juliet blinked.

"What?"

"He doesn't deserve to be here," Varian said. "I may not know what he's saying, but I know he cares about you. I also know that you care about him – I mean, you hug him like e _very_ five seconds. And I mean, they can't charge him with anything because he's animal – and yes, J, I know animals are capable of complex thoughts and emotions before you even _start_ , but if they were to start accusing animals of crimes that would happen a huge container of worms they _would not_ want to open and even so he didn't do anything that, at least not willingly. I was thinking maybe he could go with you." His eyes drifted over to Rapunzel. "I mean, as long as it's okay with the Princess."

Juliet blinked at the use of the term. Before, Varian had always referred to Rapunzel as, well, Rapunzel with a disdainful tone. Referring to her as 'the Princess' with a neutral inflection was something that made her do a double take. Rapunzel looked surprised as well, but Juliet couldn't tell if it was from being directly addressed or the _way_ that Varian had addressed her. Most likely a mixture of both.

"Oh, um, of course," Rapunzel eventually recovered, her eyes clearly confused.

Rudiger looked up at her, a frown clearly visible. " _Juliet – I-I can't leave him. He needs someone here."_

Juliet looked back at Varian, his eyes pleading to take away Rudiger. Rudiger was by far the most important thing in Varian's life sans his currently estranged, de-animated dad and he wanted him to be safe and away from the life that was one stuck rotting indefinitely in the dungeon. But Rudiger wanted to stay – loyalty to Varian or loyalty to Rudiger, decisions, decisions with consequences…

"He…he said he wants to stay with you," Juliet said softly. "He says he can't leave you behind."

"Ruddy," Varian said, redirecting his attention on the raccoon. "You have to go with Juliet. I'll _be fine._ You deserve to be in the outside world – and after – after what _I did to you_ , made you become a monster, I can't ask you to stay here with me."

 _"_ _I_ want _to stay with you,"_ Rudiger said. Juliet opened her mouth to translate but was beat to the punch by Varian answering him.

"No, Rudiger," Varian said. "You can't stay here, and I don't need Juliet to translate that you want to stay. The blame is mine, and I won't let you endure the punishment too." He shook his head and his voice lowered. "You don't deserve that."

Rudiger made a broken sound, one so vulnerable and emotional not even Juliet could translate it. Varian didn't even blink or look to her for understanding; he reached across the bars and rubbed Rudiger's furry gray cheek, his hands barely fitting through the bars. Rudiger leaned into the gloved hand with a sad look that was returned by Varian's smile.

It was silent for a moment, and neither one of them said something. But Juliet could tell from that silence it was decided that Rudiger was leaving her today.

"You'll be fine," Varian said. "I'll be fine." He looked up at Juliet and met her eyes for a moment, and then looked back down at Rudiger. "We'll all be fine."

" _I'll miss you,"_ Rudiger said.

"I'll miss _you_ ," Varian said in turn. Juliet scratched Rudiger's head lovingly and he looked up at her, his expression torn between a smile and a frown.

"I'll take good care of him," Juliet said. Varian scoffed and rolled his eyes.

"It's not _him_ I'm worried about," Varian said. Juliet opened her mouth in mock offense and fixated her friend with a semi-angry look that made him laugh. His laugh echoed off the stone walls of the mostly empty hall of the dungeon, letting her experience for a moment more than when he ended it. God, she hoped that wasn't the last time she heard it.

"Do you have any idea how long you'll be here?" Juliet asked. Varian shrugged.

"However long it takes me to pay off my debt to society," Varian said. Rapunzel didn't say anything in objection, so Juliet took it that for the time being this was the truth. The truth being he wasn't going _anywhere_ any time soon.

"If one of those crimes is being annoying, well then, it was nice meeting you," Juliet joked. Varian rolled his eyes.

"Any idea where _you're_ going?" Varian said.

Juliet hadn't even thought where she was going to go after she talked with him, let alone what her plan was now that she was free. She dimly thought for a moment she could return to the land she came from, but then the image of Azul came back, and she knew she would never go back. Besides, she knew Rudiger needed to be around Corona, for the distant someday when (she refused to think this was a 'what if') Varian returned to their lives.

 _Varian._ Another memory, a story he once told her. An abridged biography of how Varian landed here originally. One about a puzzle still not quite solved, a puzzle that she had been told from the source. In the end, was their really anywhere else she could go?

"Old Corona," Juliet said. Varian raised an eyebrow.

"As in, my old village?" Varian asked. Juliet nodded.

"Yes," Juliet said. "I'm going to go free your dad."

Varian was in silence, a silence that Rapunzel broke. The blonde stepped forward and put a hand on the animal whisperer's shoulder.

"Juliet, you want to go work with Xavier?" Rapunzel asked in confusion.

"Who's Xavier?" Juliet asked at the same time Varian asked, "Xavier's trying to save my dad?"

"Xavier is a blacksmith here in Corona," Rapunzel explained, and Juliet choose to ask what a blacksmith was later, "He's the only person we could think of to make sense of your notes. To try and figure out what happened."

Juliet could see the storm of emotions in Varian's eyes. This, obviously, was new information for him and he needed to process it. Juliet nodded her head at Rapunzel said.

"Doesn't matter whose already there," Juliet said. "I may not be much help, but if anyone can see what Varian's poor handwriting says, it's me."

"Why?" Varian asked her. Juliet turned to him in confusion.

"What?"

" _Why?"_ Varian asked her again. "Why would you go to Old Corona? You have so much you haven't done yet and places you haven't even seen yet. The only memory you have before the island is a storm – what if you have a family waiting for you?"

Juliet shrugged. "Varian, I've lived I don't even know how long on that island. And I didn't have a family back then, but you've lived with your father almost your whole life. You need him back. I can live a bit longer without answers, besides, I've never really been bothered by my lack of them, you know that."

That was one difference between them so sizable neither could wrap their head around. If Varian needed an answer, he would go for it and find the solution with no rest in sight until it was found. Juliet couldn't even begin to recall how many time he had to have been dragged away from the project by her, and she knew she hadn't been the first person to have to do this for him.

She, however, was a bit more passive with things like this. Juliet was a bit more content with the shape of her life as was. Trying to find the odds and ends of how she got there had never been something with a large appeal. She would be fibbing if she said she wasn't wondering where she came from and how that storm landed her with Azul and why she had been in it to begin with, but her life here in Corona and with Varian and Rudiger seemed a little more important.

She could tackle her past once she seized today.

"Juliet, I –"

" _Tell him not to fight, a direct order from me,"_ Rudiger said and Juliet smiled, which immedailty made Varian lean his head against the bar in frustration.

"He's on your side, isn't he?"

"Yes," Juliet said smugly. Varian sighed and looked back up at her again.

"A raccoon and a teenage girl," Varian said with a scoff. "Who knew that was all it took to lose an argument?"

"In your defense, I was going to do it anyway," Juliet said. Varian smiled and took one of her hands again.

"I'm goanna miss you, Jules," Varian whispered softly. Juliet smiled back and squeezed his hand gently.

"I'll miss you too, 'Rian," Juliet said.

"Look after her, Rudiger," Varian said to his pet raccoon. "If she ends up back in here, I will hold you responsible."

" _She's crazy, I make no promises,"_ Rudiger said in reply. Juliet frowned at him and moved him onto her shoulders.

"So _not_ translating that," Juliet said. "And you wound me, Rudiger."

"We'll come visit you," Juliet said. She turned to Rapunzel in a panic, remembering that she had needed a chaperone to see him this time. Could she even see him again? Was this the last time she would see Varian?

Rapunzel laughed good-naturedly at the look on the young girl's face. "Don't worry, Juliet, you can visit him again." Her own face screwed up. "I think."

Juliet took that as signal it was more than likely she could return here for Varian. She returned to Varian and smiled at him.

"We'll be back as soon as we can," Juliet said.

" _Yeah!"_ Rudiger said in agreement.

"I love you," Juliet said.

"I love you too," he returned. Though they had kissed, and Juliet felt as though something more than a friendship was developing – or at least had the possibility to develop -, Juliet said she loved him not as a romantic partner, but as the one person who had become perhaps the most important person in her life. Regardless of whatever it was he was, had been, or would become to her, she knew that she loved him. And from the way Varian had said it return, she had the inkling he felt the same.

That didn't stop the surprised gasp from Rapunzel, which both decided to ignore for the time being.

Juliet reached up and kissed his cheek through the bars, which caused a light blush to dust his cheek. She had half a mind to lean in and kiss him fully like she did in the forest, which she knew the bars were wide enough to allow just barely, but she decided against it. She had run off last time (though she had made sure to tell him she liked it), and now he sat in a prison cell.

No. If she was meant to kiss him again, she would do it on the day he was released.

"I'll see you soon," she assured.

"I'll hold you to that," Varian said. Juliet laughed, a hint of sorrow in her voice.

"Goodbye, 'Rian," she said. She turned around and made her way back towards the doorway, refusing to turn back around as she felt her tears rise.

 _"_ _Goodbye, Varian!"_ Rudiger said too, his tone a bit cheerier.

"Bye, Rudiger. Goodbye, Jules," she heard Varian say. Her tears were hot and wet as she left the room and she was aware that Rudiger was pawing at them as they left, trying to wipe them away. She heard Rapunzel walking behind her and the call of the concerned guards, but she couldn't quite make out what they were saying.

If one where to ask Rapunzel or Juliet, they wouldn't tell you that Juliet had finally broke down at the foot of the stairs, tears and heavy breathing her only communication. Juliet wouldn't tell you because she would never let herself dwell on leaving Varian like that, and Rapunzel wouldn't tell you because she had made a promise to Juliet on those stairs to never tell.

And Rapunzel never broke a promise.

* * *

 ** _Ladies and gents, I present the end of "These Runaways Will Run the Night"._**

 ** _Thank you, God. You gave me so much and still gave me this wonderful character of Juliet to build and create._**

 ** _Would anyone be interested in more content for these two? These one-shots were very specifically set up to show progressions of character, but I have a bunch of other ideas for this universe that just didn't fit quite right in here as well as other Tangled one-shot ideas. I want to start a one-shot gallery for more general one-shots. Some would be during this time period, when V and J are all grown up, one or two AUs for Juliet, AUs for the canon gang, and some pre-series even. Any interested parties?_**

 ** _Also, ten points to whoever gets the_** **The Drew Carey Show** ** _reference. I have a love/hate relationship with that show._**

 ** _Also, since this is four chapters, you get four facts about me_** ** _J_** ** _:_**

 ** _(1)_** ** _I am a Christian._**

 ** _(2)_** ** _I, unlike Varian, hate ham sandwiches. Like, mayo and ham on bread? I just can't do it._**

 ** _(3)_** ** _No shocker,_** **Tangled** ** _is my favorite Disney movie. What's more interesting is that my second favorite is_** **Meet the Robinsons.** ** _I'm not the only one who remembers that movie, right?_**

 ** _(4)_** ** _I want to be an English teacher and a writer._**

 ** _Review Replies:_**

 ** _Vfan: Thank you so much for the review. It's nice hearing back from readers. Varian and Juliet are like fifteen, so all friendship and romance between them is very cute and innocent. Romance does blossom for them – as you can see – but give how young they are and Juliet's circumstance this is first love, so the two are so clueless. Unfortunately, this is the end of V and J in this particular one-shot gallery. If enough people want it, I'll go through with my plans to expand under another gallery, but for now this is it._** ** _L_** ** _I'm sad to see it over so soon._**


	5. ANNOUNCEMENT

_Varian and Juliet are back people!_

 _I just couldn't stop writing for these two, and so a new one-shot gallery is now up and running under the name Where the Lost Get Found. It's_ technically _a sequel in that most of the one-shots take place following the events of these one-shots, but one or two will be prequels. A few will even be completely devoid of Juliet's presence, and focus on the canon characters. I hope to see you guys there!_

 _It also came to my attention that I spelled Frederic's name incorrectly after I already had this published. MA 'bad. I'll repeat it over in Where the Lost Get Found, but to keep things simpler I've opted that in the Juliet!Verse as I'm calling it, Fredrick's name is spelled like this, and in every other AU in that gallery and the canon one-shots it will be spelled Frederic. That cool with everybody?_

 _Since I got some reviews since competition, REVIEW REPLIES!:_

 _cardona008. pardo011: Thank you so much for your kind words. I was having a really bad time when I saw your reviews, so they made me feel a lot better. :) Varian and Juliet are very close to my heart and I'm so thankful you and everyone else seem to love them as much as I do. I was already knocking around ideas for a "sequel" and I was hoping people would want to see more from them – and the story isn't done yet, because now we have some more content for them. Juliet isn't a lot in the first one – mostly in narration – but their relationship is the basis of most of them. And for your information, my emotions were exploding everywhere during the writing of this, and it appears it's getting worse the deeper I get in to this AU I created. Their kiss legit was my first kissing scene ever – I almost didn't go through with it, glad I did!_

 _Crystalmoon39: Oh, my fairy godmother, thank you! I hope you stick around for Where the Lost Get Found. I was inspired by Barbie as The Island Princess – their stories are parallel in that a storm separated them from her family and sent her to an island, but that island and her "ability" are a little more mysterious. I couldn't really explore it here because that wasn't the point of the story, but the one-shot gallery will let me explain perhaps a bit more. I'm planning on very soon writing a one-shot about how Juliet came and left the island, so her complete backstory will be a little clearer. I haven't seen Barbie as The Island Princess in forever, so I can't remember if Azul was a character in it (if it was, it was the peacock, right?) or not, so that's what I named her "father". And just like Ro….a possible name reveal? ;). Thanks for the review._


End file.
